The
Seven Trumpets
Parts
1-3
Begin
Text:
We
have been studying the book of Revelation for
several months and we have carefully examined
four topics: The seven churches, the seven seals,
the 144,000 and the Two Witnesses. We have five
topics to go: The seven trumpets, the four beasts
of Revelation, the seven bowls, the Second
Coming, and the Millennium.
After
we finish our study on the seven trumpets, we
will be able to move through the remaining topics
in less time when the first four topics because
we will have established a good foundation and a
strong framework to work within. I hope you
understand how the four rules take us to the
intended meaning of apocalyptic prophecy. I
have three introductory things to say about the
seven trumpets before we begin with Revelation
8:2.
1.
The seven trumpets are to the Second Coming of
Jesus what the Feast of Trumpets was to the Day
of Atonement. In other words, the seven trumpets
of Revelation will awaken the whole world to hear
that “The Judgment Bar of Christ” has
begun. This parallels the Feast of Trumpets that
awakened the whole camp of Israel to The Judgment
Bar of Christ that took place on the Day of
Atonement.
Many Christians are
surprised to learn that the member of the Godhead
who spoke to Israel in the Old Testament was
Jesus Christ Himself!
1 Corinthians 10:1
For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact,
brothers, that our forefathers were all under the
cloud and that they passed through the sea.
1 Corinthians 10:2
They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud
and in the sea.
1 Corinthians 10:3
They all ate the same spiritual food
1 Corinthians 10:4
and drank the same spiritual drink; for they
drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied
them, and that rock was Christ.
Keep in mind that the Feast
of Trumpets was designed to prepare Israel to
meet Jesus Christ and the seven trumpets in
Revelation will do the same. [more about this
later on]
2. Unfortunately,
many Christians do not know anything about the
seven trumpets. There’s an interesting
reason for this. Christians believing in a
pre-tribulation rapture aren’t concerned
about the seven trumpets because they believe
they will occur after the rapture. On the other
hand, Christians believing in a historical
interpretation of Revelation believe the seven
trumpets happened in the distant past so they are
not concerned about the seven trumpets. Both
views produce the same result: The seven
trumpets do not apply to us; therefore they
really do not concern us. This is terrible, a
tragic mistake.
3. The seven
trumpets are the catalyst in Revelation’s
story that makes the story unfold. (A catalyst is
an ingredient that causes something to happen
that would otherwise be impossible.} The seven
trumpets will drastically change life, as we know
it. The seven trumpets will turn the whole world
upside down. The seven trumpets will destroy the
infrastructures of the world and in so doing
produce the Great Tribulation.
Strong statement: If a
person does not properly understand the nature
and purpose of the seven trumpets, he cannot
accurately understand the book of Revelation.
Period. Revelation’s story will not make
any sense if the seven trumpets are not correctly
understood.
Review Charts showing the
relationship seven trumpets with other prophetic
elements….
Keep Rule One in mind as we
study the seven trumpets: “Each apocalyptic
prophecy has a beginning point and ending point
in time and the events occur in the order
given.”
Start
Stop
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A-----B-----C-----D-----E-----F
Let’s read:
Revelation 8:2 And
I saw the seven angels who stood before God,
and to them were given seven trumpets.
Revelation 8:3 Another
angel, who had the golden censer, came and stood
at the altar. He was given much incense to offer,
with the prayers of all the saints, on the
golden altar before the throne.
Revelation
8:4 The smoke of the incense,
together with the prayers of the saints, went up
before God from the angel’s hand.
Revelation
8:5 Then the angel took the censer,
filled it with fire from the alter, and hurled it
on the earth; and there came peals of thunder,
rumblings, flashes of lightening and an
earthquake.
Revelation
8:6 Then the seven angels who had the
seven trumpets prepared to sound them…
Let’s go through these
verses one more time and I will insert some
commentary:
Revelation 8:2 And
I saw the seven angels who stand before God [God
has seven highly exalted angels that serve Him.
These seven angels are the same seven angels of
the seven churches, and the same seven angels
pouring out the seven bowls] and to them were
given seven trumpets. [The seven trumpets are
seven horrible judgments that will notify the
whole world that Jesus Christ is returning to
Earth].
Timing: As I have said
before, I believe the seven angels were given the
seven trumpets in the Spring of 1994, because at
the end of the 70 Jubilee cycles. God’s
patience with man’s rebellion reached its
limit. I believe the time appointed for
God’s wrath arrived in April 1994 and I
suspect that the implosion of Comet
Shoemaker-Levy 9 into Jupiter during July 1994
was magnificent “prophetic example” of
God’s coming wrath. You may recall that the
comet broke up into a string of 21 chucks and
they impacted Jupiter creating the most powerful
explosions ever witnessed by man.
Let’s consider how
Revelation 8:2 and 7:1 fit together:
Let’s suppose the seven
angels were given the seven trumpets in the
Spring of 1994. Let’s suppose the first
seven angels went off to harm Earth, but they
were told to “wait” until the 144,000
servants have been sealed. This delay explains
Revelation 7.
Revelation 7:1 After
this I saw four angels standing at the four
corners of the earth, holding back the four winds
of the earth to prevent any wind from blowing on
the land or on the sea or on any tree.
Revelation 7:2 Then
I saw another angel coming up from the east,
having the seal of the living God. He called out
in a loud voice to the four angels who had been
given power to harm the land and the sea:
Revelation 7:3 “
Do not harm the land or the sea or the trees
until we put a seal on the foreheads of the
servants of our God.”
Why do we need to know about
this delay? Why has God informed us about this
delay? In a sentence, we know today that
God’s wrath is overdue, but God’s wrath
is overdue, but God has not implemented His wrath
because He is waiting on something more
important than His wrath!
Jesus is waiting for the
appointed time to arrive. “With God,
timing is everything.” He is waiting for a
specific day; a day is exactly 1,335 days short
of the seventh millennium. Thus far, the delay
has lasted 14+ years. According to my
calculations, I think the seventh millennium
begins somewhere between 2011 and 2017. Of
course, I could be wrong. But, I think we are
very close.
Revelation 8:3 Another
angel [not one of the seven], who had a golden
censer, came and stood at the altar. He was
given much incense to offer, with the prayers
of all the saints, on the golden altar
before the throne [We know that this alter is the
“true” Altar of Incense. Look at these
verses:
Hebrews 8:1 The
point of what we are saying is this: We do have
such a high priest, who sat down at the right
hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven,
Hebrews 8:2 and
who serves in the sanctuary, the true
tabernacle set up by the Lord, not by man.
Hebrews
8:4 If we were on earth, he would not
be a priest, for there are already men who offer
the gifts prescribed by the law.
Hebrews
8:5 They serve at a sanctuary that
is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven.
This is why Moses was warned when he was about to
build the tabernacle: “See to it that you
make everything according to the pattern shown
you on the mountain.”
There’s a profound
point here: If we are going to understand what
happens at the Altar of Incense in Heaven’s
Temple (Revelation 8:3-5), we first have to
understand what happened at the Altar of
Incense on Earth because the temple on Earth was
a copy and shadow of the true temple in
Heaven.
Revelation 8:3 “Another
angel, who had the golden censer, came and stood
at the [true] altar. He was given much incense to
offer, with the prayers of all the saints on the
golden altar before the throne. [Incidentally,
the Altar of Incense in the Earthy temple was
located in front of the Table of Showbread that
represented the throne of God.]
Revelation
8:4 The smoke of the incense, together
with the prayers of the saints, went up
before God [as a sweet aroma] from the
angel’s hand. [The idea here is that all of
the saints on Earth are praying… they are
asking God to do something and verse 5 is
God’s response to their prayers.]
Revelation
8:5 Then the angel took the censer,
filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it
to the earth; and there came peals of thunder,
rumblings, flashes of lightening and an
earthquake.
Revelation
8:6 Then the seven angels who had the
seven trumpets prepared to sound them.”
Rule One: Examine the
sequence:
1. 7 angels
given 7 trumpets [but, they are told to wait]
2. [Later] An
angel with a censer arrives at the Altar of
Incense and He was given much incense to
burn for this event
3. A sweet
fragrance rises before God together with the
prayers of all the saints
4. Then, the
angel fills the censer with fire from the Altar
and throws it down on Earth
5. Four physical
phenomena occur
6. The seven
angels prepare to sound their trumpets
What is the service at the
Altar of Incense all about? In a sentence, “This
service marks the close of corporate intercession
and the commencement of the Great Tribulation.”
To understand the phrase,
“the termination of corporate
intercession,” you have to understand three
things:
1. When Adam and
Even sinned, Jesus “stood between” the
law of God that demanded their immediate
execution of the guilty pair. Jesus immediately
interceded.
On the basis of love for
Adam and Eve and their offspring, Jesus
voluntarily interceded. For six thousand years,
Jesus has been “standing in the way” of
[as in holding back] the execution of sinners.
This intercession operates on two levels: The
personal level and the corporate level.
See if this makes sense:
When the whole world
became corrupt in Noah’s day, Jesus told
Noah that He was going to destroy the world
because it had passed the point of no return. So,
after 120 years, mercy for the world
(corporately speaking) ended and the flood came.
However, even though God was
angry with the behavior of mankind as a whole,
mercy was extended to any individual who
believed God’s Word and entered the ark that
Noah built. The point here is that God deals with
mankind in corporate ways and He deals with
mankind in individual ways.
This is why there were two
altars in the Earthy temple. There are two levels
of atonement. The Altar of Burnt Offering [located
in the courtyard] was used for atonement on the
personal level. This is where individuals
came with their sin offerings.
The Altar of Incense [located
inside the temple] was used for atonement on corporate
level. Each morning and evening, atonement
was made on this altar for the whole nation of
Israel. Because continual or daily atonement was
ongoing, a holy God could dwell in a camp of
sinners without destroying it!
Consider this: In Bible
times, God dwelt with the nation of Israel as
though the whole nation was one person. The
Babylonian captivity was corporate punishment
upon the whole nation for the apostasy of its majority.
[Yes, there were some in Israel at that time who
still pleased God (like Ezekiel, Daniel and his
three friends). But the majority in Israel
displeased Him and He destroyed the whole
nation through Nebuchadnezzar.]
Of course, God also deals
with mankind as individuals. You may
remember how God punished King David for having
an affair with Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah.
So, the first thing that you
need to know about the services at the corporate
altar, the Altar of Incense, is that God deals
with mankind on two levels and this truth is
confirmed by the presence of two separate and
distinct altars in the Earthly and Heavenly
temples. (If you want to investigate further,
read Leviticus 4 and notice the differences
between corporate sins and individual sins and
their respective altars.)
Just
in case you have forgotten, I said there are
three things we have to understand before we can
understand the service at the Altar of Incense in
Revelation 8, so let’s proceed with item #2.
2. We need to
understand the role of incense at the
Altar of Incense.
Have you ever heard the
expression: “Well, that stinks!”? The
idea behind the expression is that something went
wrong and the consequences stink, that is, they
are offensive. This may come as a surprise, but
sinners are a stench in God’s nostrils. This
stench isn’t body odor our stench is our
unrighteousness.
God is totally pure and we
are totally impure – even after a bath. Sin
cannot be washed away with water. Pilate did not
remove his guilt in the death of Jesus by washing
his hands. To teach that even in our finest
clothes we are stench in God’s nostrils, God
required the offering of a special fragrant
incense. Jesus designed this fragrance to mask
our stench.
Exodus 30:34 Then
the Lord said to Moses, “Take fragrant
spices – gum resin, onycha and galbanum
– and pure frankincense, all in equal
amounts,
Exodus
30:35 and make the fragrance blend of
incense, the work of a perfumer, it is to be
salted and pure and sacred.
Exodus
30:36 Grind some of it to make powder
and place it in front of the Testimony in the
Tent of the Meeting, where I will meet with you.
It shall be most holy to you.
Exodus
30:37 Do not make any incense with
this formula for yourselves; consider it holy to
the Lord.
Exodus
30:38 Whoever makes any like it to
enjoy its fragrance must be cut off from the
people.”
Each
day, evening and morning, when priests offered
this incense on the Altar of Incense, people
would gather outside the temple to present their
prayers and petitions to God. They gathered at
the evening and morning services because they
desperately wanted their petitions to be answered
and they reasoned that their petitions would be
favorably presented if they ascended with the
sweet fragrance of incense.
Think
about this: If you petitioned a great king to
grant your request, don’t you think a
delightful atmosphere would do more good than
trying to approach him in “stinky”
clothing? Ok, now that you know about corporate
intercession on the Altar of Incense and you
know about the use of incense. The last
thing you need to know about is the censer and
the act of throwing it down.
3.
In Bible times, censers were little metal buckets
[skillets] that were used to carry fire
from one place to another. In those days there
were no matches or butane lighters, so it was a
lot easier to carry fire around than to start a
fire. Thus, censers in ancient times were rather
common household devices.
Censers
were also used at the temple for the purpose of
carrying fire. The fire on the Altar of Incense
never went out, even when Israel carried the
tabernacle from place to place. The fire from the
Altar was carried in a censer. Notice how a
censer was used on the Day of Atonement.
Leviticus
16:12 “He [the high
priest] is to take the censer full of burning
coals from the altar before the Lord [Altar of
Incense] and two handfuls of finely ground
fragrant incense and take them behind the
curtain.
Leviticus
16:13 He is to put the incense on the
fire before the Lord, and the smoke of the
incense will conceal the atonement cover above
the Testimony, so that he will not die.”
The
point here is that temple censers were used to
carry fire during the process of atonement. [When
the rebellion of Korah, Dathan and Abiram
occurred, God became very angry with the whole
nation of Israel…]
Numbers 16:44 And
the Lord said unto Moses,
Numbers 16:45 “Get
away from the assembly so I can put an end to
them at once.”
Numbers 16:46 Then
Moses said to Aaron, “Take your censer and
put incense in it, along with fire from the
altar, and hurry to the assembly to make
atonement for them. Wrath has come out of the
Lord; the plague has started.”
Numbers 16:47 So
Aaron did as Moses said, and ran in the midst of
the assembly. The plague had already started
among the people, but Aaron offered the incense
and made atonement for them.
Numbers 16:48 He
stood between the living and the dead, and the
plague stopped. [What a beautiful example of
intercession]
Numbers
16:49 But 14,700 people died from the
plague, in addition to those who had died because
of Korah.”
Now that you know what
censers are and how they were used for atonement
in temple services, the big picture behind the
simple event in Revelation 8:3-5 becomes possible
to grasp. Consider the scenario:
1. God’s
patience with Earth ran out in 1994 – at the
end of 70 Jubilees cycles. The seven angels were
given seven trumpets [the seven trumpets
represent seven punitive judgments]
2.
Before the first four angels can sound their
trumpets, they are told to wait until the
144,000 are sealed.
3.
When the “perfect time” comes, an angel
approaches the Altar of Incense and he offers
much incense on the Altar, and the fragrance
ascends before God together with the prayers
of all the saints on Earth.
4.
Then, the angel fills the censer with fire from
the Altar of Incense and he throws it down to
Earth and four physical signs follow:
Putting
the fire from the Altar in the censer and
throwing it down indicates the end of the
services at the Altar. In other words, this is
the end of corporate intercession and the seven
trumpets will now begin. Look at the next verse:
Revelation 8:6 Then
the seven angels who had the seven trumpets
prepared to sound them.
Compare this with Daniel
12:11:
Daniel 12:11 “From
the time that the daily [service] is abolished [in
Heaven] and the abomination that caused
desolation is set up [a universal death decree
for the saints], there will be 1,290 days.”
Once the censer is cast
down, daily atonement (daily intercession) will
not be offered any more on the Altar of Incense.
Therefore: God’s corporate wrath breaks out
on Earth’s inhabitants.
The fourth seal is broken.
Rumblings, lightening, thunders, and a global
earthquake follow. The world will be stopped in
its tracks. Arrested!
The whole world will be put
on notice with these four physical phenomena that
God’s anger with our behavior will not be
contained any longer. The appointed time for
God’s wrath has come and shortly after these
four manifestations, the first trumpet will sound
in Heaven’s courtroom and fiery hail will
fall from the sky and burn up 1/3 of Earth. The
enormous scope and nature of this judgment is
“a prophetic sample” of hell.
One more point:
You might be wondering about
the prayers of all the saints on Earth. What is
their petition? What are saints, the world over,
praying about? This is a good question because no
one knows the timing (the day and hour) of this
service in Heaven’s temple! Remember, the
prayers of the saints are presented to the Lord
shortly before the censer is cast down and the
global earthquake occurs. See if this explanation
makes any sense:
The Bible does not say what
the saints are praying about. We know that saints
are praying everyday to God, but this service in
Heaven is not an everyday event and neither are
these prayers. However, there is one thing that
all of God’s saints would pray about at
the same time under the right circumstances.
I believe a great war will
erupt in the Middle East and this war will
escalate until there is a nuclear exchange. Tens
of millions will die in this war. Because this
war will affect the global economy, the
distribution of oil, food, clothing, building
materials and supplies of all kinds will slow to
a stop. This war will be a fearful event. The
words of Iran’s president may be prophetic:
He wants to wipe Jerusalem off the map.
If Israel were totally
destroyed by nuclear bombs, what would this do to
the theology of hundreds of millions of
Christians who believe that the temple will be
rebuilt?
Because this war will be
nuclear and the consequences far reaching, the
whole world will suddenly be crying out for
“peace and safety.” Anxiety will be
very great and all of God’s people will be
praying for the same thing! The imminent return
of Jesus Christ!
Paul wrote:
1 Thessalonians 5:4
But you brother, are not in darkness so that this
day should surprise you like a thief.”
Did you notice that within a
context of people saying “peace and
safety” that “sudden destruction”
comes [from the Lord]?
While world leaders are
doing their best to limit the nuclear war and
achieve peace and safety, God answers the
prayers of His saints by stepping into the fray!
All of the saints on Earth
will be earnestly praying for the Lord’s
intervention. An angel is called to the Altar of
Incense. He is given much incense, and the
context of a sweet aroma, the petitions of the
saints will be presented to the Lord. The Lord
will give the nod and the angel will throw the
censer down. Corporate intercession for Earth is
terminated and God’s wrath breaks out. The
1,335 days just began. The Second Coming is a
parade of events over a course of 1,335 days.
If you think this nuclear
exchange I have presented is horrible, you
haven’t seen anything yet! Sudden
destruction from God will miniaturize the nuclear
exchange. God will step into the affairs of
mankind with something bigger than nuclear bombs.
[Illustration: Big ant and three little ants
fighting]
In fact, the first trumpet
will burn up a third of the entire world!
Suddenly, man’s biggest
problem isn’t nation against nation it is
God versus mankind. Let’s look at the first
four trumpets:
Revelation 8:7 The
first angel sounded his trumpet [in Heaven’s
temple], and there came hail and fire mixed with
blood, and it was hurled down upon the earth.
Revelation 8:8 The
second angel sounded his trumpet, and something
like a huge mountain, all ablaze, was thrown into
the sea. A third of the sea turned into blood,
Revelation 8:9 a
third of the living creatures in the sea died,
and a third of the ships were destroyed.
Revelation 8:10 The
third angel sounded his trumpet, and a great
star, blazing like a torch, fell from the sky on
a third of the rivers and on the springs of water
–
Revelation 8:11 the
name of the star is Wormwood [poison]. A third of
the waters turned bitter, and many people died
from the waters that had become bitter.
Revelation 8:12 The
fourth angel sounded his trumpet, and a third of
the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a
third of the stars, so that a third of them
turned dark. A third of the day was without
light, and also a third of the night. [Global
famine]
Revelation 8:13 As
I watched, I heard an eagle [the fourth living
creature, the one with the face of an eagle that
oversees the fourth seal] that was flying in
midair and call out in a loud voice: Woe! Woe!
Woe! [Condemned are] to the inhabitants of the
earth, because of the trumpet blasts about to be
sounded by the other three angels!”
So, the first four
trumpets are:
1. Fiery
hailstorm burns up 1/3 of Earth.
2. Asteroid
impact on ocean – tsunami and the ocean is
left in angry turmoil
3. Asteroid
impact on a continent – drinking water
contaminated
4. Darkness
– no food crops
Two points that need to be
addressed:
1. The
repetitive use of 1/3 in the seven trumpets:
2. The reason
for calling these judgments “seven
trumpets”:
The Jews celebrated
“The Feast of Trumpets” on the first
day of the seventh month each year. (Tishri 1)
Actually, God required Israel to observe the
commencement of every month at the time of each
new moon and these festivals kept Israel’s
calendar synchronized with the moon. But, the new
moon festivals for the seventh month of the year
were different from all the others. The
sounding of trumpets marked this feast.
The purpose for the sounding
of the trumpets was to notify Israel that the
most important day of the year was about to
arrive. In other words, the Jews were put on
notice that they had nine days to get ready for
the 10th day of the 7th
month that was the Day of Atonement – or the
Day of Judgment.
God warned Israel with
trumpets that their Day of Judgment was coming
because corporate approval was only possible if
all of the Jews made sure that all personal
wrongs had been made right.
Consider this:
When a wrong was committed,
God does not forgive the sinner until restitution
has been made to the victim. Restitution consists
of restoring what was taken plus paying a
penalty.
For example:
Exodus 22:1 “If
a man steals an ox or a sheep and slaughters it
or sells it, he must pay back five head of cattle
for the ox and four sheep for the sheep.”
Exodus 22:5 “If
a man grazes his livestock in a field or vineyard
and lets them stray and they graze in another
man’s field, he must make restitution from the
best of his own field or vineyard.”
Exodus 22:7 “If
a man gives his neighbor silver for goods for
safekeeping and they are stolen from the
neighbor’s house, the thief, if he is
caught, must pay back double.
Exodus 22:8
But if a thief is not found, the owner of the
house must appear before the judges to determine
whether he has laid his hands on the other
man’s property.
Exodus 22:9 In
all cases of illegal possession of an ox, a
donkey, a sheep, a garment, or any other lost
property about which somebody says, ‘This is
mine,’ both parties are to bring their cases
before the judges. The one whom the judges
declare guilty must pay back double to his
neighbor.”
Of course, restitution is
not possible for some things.
Exodus 22:16
“If a man seduces a virgin who is not
pledged to be married and sleeps with her, he
must pay the bride-price, and she shall be his
wife.
Exodus 22:17 If
her father absolutely refuses to give her to him,
he must still pay the bride-price for
virgins.” [Full price]
[The bride price was
determined by the father of the woman. The idea
behind the bride price was that the girl was the
property of the father, and her marriage was a
financial loss to her father. So, if she was a
good-looking virgin, and if the father was a
wealthy man, the bride price was very high. If
she was quite ugly, the bride=price wasn’t
very great. Now you know why Laban gave Leah
instead of Rachel. No one would pay Laban for
Leah. Jacob worked for Laban for seven years to
pay for Rachel and after he was cheated, he
worked another seven years to pay for her. I find
the Bible to be humorous describing the morning
after Jacob’s wedding to Leah: “When
morning came, there was Leah!” Can you
imagine Jacob’s surprise and angst?]
The point here is that
the Feast of Trumpets in ancient Israel was
designed to awaken Israel to the fact that
Judgment Day was only 9 days away.
If a Jew failed to make
the necessary restitution between man and God
during these nine days, his sin would be revealed
when the High Priest entered the Most Holy place
to stand before God’s presence. God would
tell the High Priest that sin was in the camp and
after the sinner was located he would be
“cut off” or “evicted” from
the nation of Israel.
So, the nine days between
the Feast of Trumpets and the Day of Atonement
were to be spent in soul searching, carefully
reviewing the past to make sure all wrongs had
been made right. So it will be. The
time-period of the seven trumpets will be a time
of soul searching. A time for making all wrongs
right and taking a position on the side of truth.
Jesus will send seven
trumpets judgments to Earth to awaken the people
of earth to the fact that Judgment Day has come.
2 Corinthians 5:10
“For we must all appear before the
judgment seat of Christ, that each one may
receive what is due him for the things done while
in the body, whether good or bad.”
Revelation 14:7
He said in a loud voice, “Fear God and give
him glory, because the hour of his judgment
has come. Worship him who made the heavens,
the earth, the sea and the springs of
water.”
One last point: Meeting
Jesus is vastly different than meeting a great
king or president on Earth because the only
people that can see Jesus without being destroyed
by His holy presence are the pure in heart.
Matthew 5:8 Blessed
are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
Let’s finish
today’s study with this question, “What
is the purpose of 1/3 in the seven
trumpets?”
Actually, the quantity of
1/3 is mentioned 12 times in the seven trumpets.
This repetition is important because it keeps
directing us to an important concept over and
over again. The use of 1/3 in Revelation comes
from an ancient custom of kings showing
generosity.
For example, if a king
defeated his rebellious enemy, he might show
great generosity by allowing one third of his
enemies to live! .
2 Samuel 8:2 “David
defeated the Moabites. He made them lie down on
the ground and measured off with a length of
cord. Every two lengths of them were put to
death, and the third length was allowed to live.
So the Moabites became subject to David and
brought tribute.”
The 1/3 that was spared
was glad to be alive! They had a change of mind
and were suddenly pleased to pay their
taxes.”
Look at this: When the
Lord, the Great King of Israel, destroyed
Jerusalem because of apostasy, He spared 1/3:
Ezekiel 5:11 Therefore
as surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord,
because you have defiled my sanctuary with your
vile images and detestable practices, I myself
will withdraw my favor; I will not look on you
with pity or spare you.
Ezekiel 5:12 A
third of you people will die of the plague or
perish by famine inside you; a third will fall
by the sword outside your walls; and a
third I will scatter to the winds and pursue
with a drawn sword.”
The point here is that the
seven trumpets are a time of mercy. In stead
of justifiably destroying 3/3’s Jesus
destroys 1/3 and leaves 2/3! He is double
generous!
The destruction of 1/3
will be so overwhelming that people will think
that God is going to destroy everyone and
everything. Yes, He would be justified in so
doing, but He is a double generous king.
One last thing:
The number 666, the mark
of the beast, is 2/3 of 1,000. The devil will
divide the people of Earth into groups of 1,000
and kill 1/3.
When we study the mark of
the beast, you will be amazed at the fact that
Lucifer will kill 1/3 of mankind and spare
2/3’s. (Revelation 9:15) The 2/3’s will
gladly choose to wear the number
“666” showing they belong to the
2/3’s that are permitted to live. We’ll
discuss this later on.
If time permits:
“Eternal truth is
not what I believe. Truth is greater than me.
Truth is not even what I know for truth is larger
than anything I know. Truth is fact. I may not
believe it. I may not know it. But, that does not
change it. It is nevertheless, waiting to be
discovered and believed. Truth does not depend
upon the unsettled and changing opinions of men.
It was there before it was believed and it
remains truth whether it is believed or not.
Truth is true. Reason does not originate it nor
create it, it merely discovers it. Consequently,
reason is not its source. Truth goes back beyond
the beginning of reason. Some would have us
believe that the church is the source of truth,
particularly in matters of theology. They are
wrong. The church is the product of truth. It
does not originate it. The church came into being
by accepting divine revelation. The church is not
the source of that revelation. Truth goes beyond
the church it is antecedent to it. Truth, eternal
truth.”
(Written by Carlye B.
Haynes (1882-1958), the reference for this quote
has been lost.)
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